Sewer relief valve

ABSTRACT

A sewer relief valve for installation in the cleanout connection to a sewer line, with a flapper which opens to release sewage water when water rises in the sewer line, said flapper being self-closing when the water pressure has been relieved on the line so as to seal the gases in the sewer line. The valve unit is molded of a relatively rigid plastic material with the sealing face of the flapper being formed of a softer inserted piece of nylon plastic so as to form a gas type seal to the sewer line when the valve is in the normally closed position.

United States Patent [191 Oberholtzer SEWER RELIEF VALVE [76] Inventor:Jene V. Oberholtzer, PO. Box

28127, Dallas, Tex. 75228 [22] Filed: Oct. 26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:301,089

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No.166.094, July 26,

1971, abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl l37/527.8, 4/21 1 [51] Int. Cl. Fl6k 15/03 [58] Field ofSearch 137/527, 527.2, 527.4,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 859,139 7/1907 Spencer137/527.8

[4 June 11, 1974 Primary Examiner-Robert G. Nilson Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Howard l. Podell [57] ABSTRACT A sewer relief valve forinstallation in the cleanout connection to a sewer line, with a flapperwhich opens to release sewage water when water rises in the sewer line,said flapper being self-closing when the water pressure has beenrelieved on the line so as to seal the gases in the sewer line. Thevalve unit is molded of a relatively rigid plastic material with thesealing face of the flapper being formed of a softer inserted piece ofnylon plastic so as to form a gas type seal to the sewer line when thevalve is in the normally closed position.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Pmmwwm 1 m 3515529 SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR.

JENE V. OBERHOLTZER wn/MW 1 SEWER RELIEF VALVE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a sewer valve which protects the inside ofbuildings by preventing the backing up of water in plugged sewer lines,and particularly to such a valve which is adaptable for releasing thebacked-up sewage water to outside of the structure without venting sewergases to the atmosphere. Apartment houses, commerical buildings andhomes, have the problem of sewage backing up when, on a lower floor, thesewer line becomes plugged and levels higher in the building continueto'empty water into the sewer line with the result that lower floors inthe building are flooded from the sewer water backing up in sink drainsand toilets on the lower-leve.

My invention eliminates this problem by means of the installation of aninexpensive and lightweight plastic molded valve which vents the pluggedwater outside the building and without venting noxious sewage gasesoutside of the building during normal operation-of the system. Thevalveof this invention is an inexpensive molded device which seals againstlow gas pressures but releases any water head in the system. Once theplugged sewage water. has been released, the valve closes automaticallyretaining the sewer gases and preventing their escape. Each valve isprovided with a flapper which opens to release the sewage water underpressure and is self-closing without the use of springs or othermechanical aids.

The flapper of the valve formed of a relatively rigid circular sectionof molded plastic which seats against a shaped circular ribofsimilarrigidproperties. The sealing face of the valve flapper is formedofa relatively soft plastic plate, preferably molded of nylon, which isfixed to the flapper so that the weight of the flapper and nylon sealingface are sufficient to form a gas tight seal between the soft nylonsealing face andthe rigid rib which forms the valve seat, said rib beingmolded into, and protruding from the internal diameter of the valvehousing.

In order to provide a gas-tight seal between the sealing face of theflapper and the fixed ribs molded to the valve housing, with said sealbeing readily broken by the minimal pressure of a small head of water,the circumference of the sealing face of nylon is formed with anintegral ribbed lip which protrudes past the plane of the sealing face,with said rib being of a beveled shape to mate with the tapershapeformed on the sealing face of the rib which forms the valve seat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The'objects and features of theinvention may be understood with reference to the following detaileddescriptionof an illustrative embodiment of the invention, takentogether with the accompanying drawings in which: Y e

FIG.- I is a perspective view of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a'part'ial sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FlG.l',-showing the valve in the closed position; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the valve in the openposition;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the valve;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view in elevation of the alternate embodiment ofthe valve in the closed position; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the flapper of the valve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to thedrawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elementsthroughout the several views, FIG. 1-3 illustrate a right-angle, hollowelbow 10 with a top disposed vertical open end 12 adapted to be screwedinto a horizontal cleanout pipe in a sewage line disposed outside abuilding, replacing the clean out plug which is removed from thecleanout line.

Elbow 10 has a bottom disposed horizontal open end 14 disposed aboveground levels for discharge of sewage water when pressure builds up inthe line.

Disposed within end 12 is the vertically inclined hollow intake section16 communicating with the line and having an inclined top opening 22; Alid'18 hinged to the opening and having a central weight 20 is normallypositioned to close the opening. When sewage water backs up, however,pressure builds up behind the lid 18. Only slight pressure serves toforce the lid 18 to open whereby sewage water discharge occurs. As soonas the pressure drops, the lid closes itself because of gravity actionon weight 20. I

An alternate embodiment of the'device 30 is shown on FIG. 4-6 which isdesigned to be installed at the end of a horizontal section of sewagepipe outside of the building. Axis X-X in the installed position lieslies along the general horizontal plane, with opening 37 of the shield36 facing downwards so that escaping sewage water will not splatterunnecessarily. Shield 36 is formed with a circular tubular rim 49 whichsnugly fits over the outlet end 48 of the valve chamber 31. Theperiphery of the inlet opening 47 of the valve intake chamber 31 isfitted with male threads 12 on its external surface for engagement witha conventional sewer pipe coupler. Flapper member 32 is in the form of acircular washer, with a protruding hinge section 38'which is pivotablymounted by pin 39 to the housing of the device 30, so that the flappermember 32 may freely swing in response to either the forced "gravity orthe pressure of sewer water, as the case may be. A bumper rod 41 ispermanently fixed to the back external surface of the flapper member 32in the vicinity of the hinge section 38 to limit the maximum travel ofthe flapper member 32 in the open position and to prevent an attachedflexible sealing member 35 from wedging against the sides of the insideof the surface of the housing 28 in the open position. The sealingmember 35 is formed of a relatively soft composition of nylon plasticwith a-protruding button 51 centrally locatedon its back face, of a sizeto wedge tightly into the circular washer openingin flapper member 32 soas tobe affixed to flapper member 32. For maintenance purposes, wherenecessary, sealing member 35 may be removed from engagement with flappermember 32'for replacement purposes, and a new sealing member 35 may beinstalled. The sealing face of sealing member 35 is of a generally flatcircular shape with a protruding beveled lip 42 along the circumferenceprojecting past the surface of the sealing face and beveled so as toform a thin edge to the circular lip 42,said lip 42, because of itsreduced cross-section as compared to the thickness of sealing member 35,being sufficiently flexible to tightly grip a mating tapered surface 44along the circular rib 43 projecting from the valve housing about thevalve oriflce 55 in an inclined direction to Axis X-X. Consequently theweight of the flapper member 32 and affixed sealing member 35 issufficient to pivot the assembly about the hinge pin 39, in the normalhorizontal mounted position of the unit 30, to furnish a gas-tight lowpressure seal between the engaged surfaces of the lip 42 of the sealingmember 35 and the rigid circular tapered rib 43 mounted to the valvehousing 28 about the valve orifice 55.

It is to be realized that the presence of sewage gas coming out of theexposed opening 37 of the device would be readily detected bybystanders, regardless of the extremely minute quantity of such escapinggas. The effectiveness of the device lies in the fact that thecombination of the flexible rib of the sealing member, engaged along atapered mating surface, with the rigid rib of the valve seat furnishessuch a gas tight seal, yet permits immediate opening of the flappermember 32, and opening'of the orifice 55, under a pressure of a head ofwater amounting to less than 3 inches, or less than a pressure of 0.01atmospheres.

Check valves which are employed for other purposes such as preventingthe flow of'sewer gases into a building'from an outside sewer linegenerally rely upon a back pressure of water in the pipe to assist thesealing action of the valve. Other such check valves are similarlyemployed to permit flow in one direction but not the flow in the reversedirection. A unique feature of this valve is the inexpensiveconstruction employed to obtain a pressure sensitive valve which sealscompletely against minute flow of a gas of noxious odor, yet releases aflow of water of only slightly greater pressure.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of theinvention described herein, such modifications being within the spiritand scope of the invention claimed, it is indicated that all mattercontained herein is intended as illustrative and not as limiting inscope.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A sewer relief valve adaptable for fastening to a cleanout pipe of abuilding sewer line for the relief through the valve of the entrappedwater in the sewer line of the building, with said valve maintaining agas tight seal so as to prevent the escape of any sewer gas through thevalve orifice when the sewer line is free of water, said valve beingmolded of a relatively rigid plastic composition, the valve housingbeing of cylindrical shape of hollow tubular construction with an innercir- 4 cular rib protruding from the inside circumference of the valvehousing, the axis of said rib lying along one general plane,

said rib forming a restricted circular-shaped opening inside the valvehousing of reduced circumference than the inside circumference of thevalve housing itself, with the rib formed adjacent its inner peripherywith a continuous circular flange that serves as a fixed valve seat,

said flange formed as a circular projection of the rib with the axis ofthe flange oriented at an angle to the axis of the plane of the rib,with one side of the flange forming the wall of the restrictedcircularshaped opening of the rib, and with the opposed side of theflange projecting from the rib wall at an obtuse angle to the axis ofthe rib so as to form a tapered fixed valve seat, together with acircular shaped sealing member, which is fastened to a hinged flappermember in the form of a washer with an internal hole, said sealingmember being formed of a soft flexible plastic material, being of agenerally circular shape and fitted with a continuous flangedcircumference in the shape of a lip which projects beyond the face ofthe sealing member, said lip being tapered along its inside face so asto fit snugly about the tapered surface of the projecting flange of therib when the sealing member is engaged with rib flange so as to form agas tight seal between the sealing member and rib flange in theinstalled position under the effect of the torque produced by the weightof the sealing member and assembled flapper member about a hinge whichjoins the flapper member to the valve housing, and to open said sealunder the pressure of water in the line.

2. The combination as recited as in claim 1 in which the back face ofthe flapper member, opposed to the face which engages the sealingmember, is fitted with a projecting bumper in the general area of thehinge joined to the flapper member, so as to limit the rotation of theflapper and assembled sealing member in the open position of the valveto prevent the flexible sealing member from wedging against insidecircumference of thevalve housing in the open position, and thus failingto close in normal operation in the absence of water pressure. I

3. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the sealing member isreadily removed from or replaced in the flapper member without tools bymanual pressure, and sealing member being retained in the flapper memberby a projection on the back face of the sealing member which is flexiblyengaged in the internal hole of the flapper member.

)l! a In I a

1. A sewer relief valve adaptable for fastening to a cleanout pipe of abuilding sewer line for the relief through the valve of the entrappedwater in the sewer line of the building, with said valve maintaining agas tight seal so as to prevent the escape of any sewer gas through thevalve orifice when the sewer line is free of water, said valve beingmolded of a relatively rigid plastic composition, the valve housingbeing of cylindrical shape of hollow tubular construction with an innercircular rib protruding from the inside circumference of the valvehousing, the axis of said rib lying along one general plane, said ribforming a restricted circular-shaped opening inside the valve housing ofreduced circumference than the inside circumference of the valve housingitself, with the rib formed adjacent its inner periphery with acontinuous circular flange that serves as a fixed valve seat, saidflange formed as a circular projection of the rib with the axis of theflange oriented at an angle to the axis of the plane of the rib, withone side of the flange forming the wall of the restrictedcircular-shaped opening of the rib, and with the opposed side of theflange projecting from the rib wall at an obtuse angle to the axis ofthe rib so as to form a tapered fixed valve seat, together with acircular shaped sealing member, which is fastened to a hinged flappermember in the form of a washer with an internal hole, said sealingmember being formed of a soft flexible plastic material, being of agenerally circular shape and fitted with a continuous flangedcircumference in the shape of a lip which projects beyond the face ofthe sealing member, said lip being tapered along its inside face so asto fit snugly about the tapered surface of the projecting flange of therib when the sealing member is engaged with rib flange so as to form agas tight seal between the sealing member and rib flange in theinstalled position under the effect of the torque produced by the weightof the sealing member and asseMbled flapper member about a hinge whichjoins the flapper member to the valve housing, and to open said sealunder the pressure of water in the line.
 2. The combination as recitedas in claim 1 in which the back face of the flapper member, opposed tothe face which engages the sealing member, is fitted with a projectingbumper in the general area of the hinge joined to the flapper member, soas to limit the rotation of the flapper and assembled sealing member inthe open position of the valve to prevent the flexible sealing memberfrom wedging against inside circumference of the valve housing in theopen position, and thus failing to close in normal operation in theabsence of water pressure.
 3. The combination as recited in claim 1 inwhich the sealing member is readily removed from or replaced in theflapper member without tools by manual pressure, and sealing memberbeing retained in the flapper member by a projection on the back face ofthe sealing member which is flexibly engaged in the internal hole of theflapper member.